Delhi: A smart city or an optical illusion?

We will soon be a smart city. And not me, but the people they say, we will be smarter in every way. These are the people who should know – our leaders and the babus who run the city. But when I am stalled at a traffic signal at Sundar Nagar on Mathura Road, near a public school, at midnight with no vehicle in sight, I begin to doubt their claims. It takes ages for the signal to turn green though there is barely any traffic going into the colony or coming out.

I can put this down to two reasons: One the influence of the people who live there, and secondly, the complete inefficiency of Delhi traffic police. The cops have been telling us for years that ‘soon’ an intelligent traffic system (ITS) – which the rest of the world takes for granted – would be in place. This would mean that sensors embedded near the intersections will calculate the traffic volume and change the signal cycle accordingly. That would mean faster movement of traffic, less idling of engines and, as a result, less pollution. Allocations made for this year after year have lapsed and ITS remains just a pipedream. Once again, this year, a pilot project has been started in central Delhi with a new company given the task!

Meanwhile, our traffic signals go on the blink with the first showers. And then these remain like this for days – for instance, the Archana traffic light in Greater Kailash–I, for a month now – with not even a cop deployed to manage the chaos. One traffic signal seems to have been uprooted by the civic agency working here for over a year now, building drains. Smart traffic management indeed!

The bitter truth is that our netas and babus have been using tech talk to create an illusion of progress and development. We are getting there, we are getting there! Hardly.

GPS is another such scheme, a panacea, that’s hardly working. Going by the endless promises made by successive governments, ministers and officials, the entire public transport should have been on GPS by now. That’s sadly not the case. The autos and taxis have been fighting it tooth and nail and only about half the autos have installed it. The city buses too are supposed to be equipped with it but a large number strangely went missing from DTC buses a couple of years back. And, apparently, many have just ornamental value. The water tankers and garbage vans are also under GPS, we are told.

Great! Now, the question that arises is what’s happening at the back end? Who’s monitoring and how’s the data being shared with the relevant agencies? The moment you pop this question, you run into either red tape or silence. DIMTS (Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System), the SPV that monitors public transport – and incidentally manages the BRT too – won’t let you into its control room without approval from the government. Wasn’t transparency to be the cornerstone of the AAP government’s functioning? But, I believe, even the cops don’t have access to the GPS data unless they ask for it on a case-to-case basis. So, there you are.

If GPS can’t make those who run public transport in the city accountable, make drivers pay for transgressions, enforce punctuality, redress commuter grievance and, most important, integrate various modes of transport and make a common time-table available, what’s this hullabaloo all about? If garbage is not lifted and enough trips are not made to the landfill site, as reflected in the GPS data, what action is being taken by the corporations? If water tankers are deviating from their routes, is Delhi Jal Board cracking down? People ought to know. Going by the state of affairs, monitoring is either lax or non-existent.

Meanwhile, using GPS to navigate the city, check out entertainment, shopping and eating out options and generally use the geo-tag to tell friends how you are spending your hours of leisure have become commonplace. Keep the sarkar out of it and it works.

Every now and then, the transport department of Delhi government announces drives against polluting vehicles. All kinds of harebrained schemes, like no fuel without a PUC (Pollution Under Control) certificate, have been proposed and, sure enough, petrol pumps have given it a thumbs down. Why can’t the vehicle database be used to monitor PUC compliance? This must be fairly simple. Your bank’s server sends you all kinds of messages and reminders. Why can’t the database be integrated with the PUC centres and the information be used to send out periodic messages and defaulters be challaned? Apparently, the database is not in order and sending notices to addresses is a mammoth task. Also, there is a time lag in the uploading of data by PUC centres which makes it suspect. I think phone numbers and emails may not be available for all vehicles. At least banks solved this problem by having a KYC (Know Your Customer) drive for all customers, old and new.

Remember the time when you thought you will soon have that much-touted tamperproof High-Security Number Plate for your car that would deter thieves. The scheme to be implemented across the country was conceived by the Centre, believe it or not, about 14 years back. But Delhi has turned it into a flop show, getting a lot of flak from CAG.

The whole point is since there is no political and administrative will, there is nothing smart about the way our city is run. CCTVs are a case in point. Beyond gift-wrapped schemes that are periodically announced, on a piecemeal basis, is there a policy on this issue? CCTVs can help immensely in monitoring traffic and curbing crime. Around the world, regular policing is mostly unobtrusive and invisible. And you need good quality CCTVs which can give you detailed images and also record at night. Not the grainy ones that only TV channels can run for voyeuristic pleasure. Also, you need to have a mandatory storage period for even private entities, but often the footage is found to have been wiped out or lost. If working parents are now monitoring their kids and nannies through CCTVs, why do we not have a clear picture?

The latest eye-catcher is wi-fi. The AAP government has promised citywide free wi-fi and hyped it so much that now everyone is getting breathless asking when will they do it? That’s a virtual red herring for seeking accountability. The youth in the capital has broadband on its fingertips. The free wi-fi will come with riders. Don’t let such slogans distract you. Ask the right questions and seek accountability. Be smart.

Delhi government should now ask for a white paper on how smart the capital is.

Author

Subhendu Mukherjee is TOI’s Metro Editor in New Delhi and loves his city passionately. A probasi or expatriate Bengali, as they say, he was born in the capital and has moved from Darya Ganj to Chittaranjan Park, through the sarkari Mandir Marg, soaking in the different colours of this metropolis. He loves to be in a permanent state of outrage over how politicians have promised much but delivered little and allowed urban decay to set in. Subhendu’s passion is listening to Indian music – he also plays the harmonica – watching movies and checking out the new eatery in town.

Subhendu Mukherjee is TOI’s Metro Editor in New Delhi and loves his city passionately. A probasi or expatriate Bengali, as they say, he was born in the ca. . .